


The Sand In The Hourglass Is Running Low

by besidemethewholedamntime



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Speculation to 5x06, based on the sneak peek, because oh my goodnessssss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 11:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13270632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/besidemethewholedamntime/pseuds/besidemethewholedamntime
Summary: "...although he knew it was wildly improbable, he hoped that once, just once, space would be kind to Jemma Simmons."Fitz when he sees Jemma.Speculation for 5x06 based on the sneak peak.





	The Sand In The Hourglass Is Running Low

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly wrote this in an hour because I was so excited from the sneak peek! I'm so buzzing for Saturday (because that's what it'll be here when it airs) to watch it!  
> This might seem a little disjointed but I promise it's meant to be like that - I imagine Fitz'shead being a little all over the place.   
> Title from White Lies 'Unfinished Business'

His heart stops when he sees her.

Only for a second, but it does. It stops completely. So does everything else. He does not breathe. He does not think. He doesn’t do anything except acknowledge that she is _here._ He can _see_ her with his own two eyes.

The moment passes. His heart resumes beating but twice its normal rhythm. Though his heart resumes beating of its own accord, Fitz must remember to breathe but he appears to have forgotten how. The result is a very shaky exhale and then inhale.

A moment ago he was ready to fight. Ready to fight tooth and nail, get down and dirty, draw on The Doctor who resides somewhere inside of him to find his family and get the hell out of this Hunger Games nightmare. He was more than ready. He was _willing._

But now he’s marble. Still. For a moment. Unable to fight. Unwilling to. Because for this brief moment everything is fine. Everything is w _onderful._ Jemma is here and Jemma is alive and he can lay eyes on her which is something he feels like he hasn’t done in years, no matter that for him it seems only six months.

“That is Jemma Simmons. Would you like me to broker an introduction?”

With Enoch’s words, the glimmering façade turns dull and cracks in several places.

Fitz is still unable to tear his eyes from her, but now he _looks_ and notices her clothes and her hair and the way she’s bringing trays to the table and sorting them so that they are the picture of perfection. Following her, he catches a glint of gold on her face.

And then all at once, he is angry.

All at once he is no longer marble but pure anger. It makes him shake. He inhales a shaky breath once more, hoping that is will tame it but all it does is fan the flames. He would fight right here, right now. He would tear apart the universe with his bare hands. Fitz remembers Aida’s words from what seems like aeons ago. About vengeance. How she said it was ‘hot and clean and sharp like a knife’.  This is what this type of anger feels like. Not messy, but good and powerful.

Yet underneath all of the anger is an overwhelming sadness too, because although he knew it was wildly improbable, he hoped that once, just once, space would be kind to Jemma Simmons.

Except the anger is more powerful. He would do it right now, shoot their way out, without any hesitation. An ironic part of his mind wonders when shooting became the solution to everything. It doesn’t matter what would happen to him, he doesn’t really care. All that matters is that Jemma would be free from whatever slavery it seems she’s been forced or coerced into. He’s itching to do it, itching for the release that pulling the trigger would bring him. The only thing that stops him is the barely heard ‘the survival chances would be less than two percent for each individual’. He won’t do that. He is done with risking the lives of his family, endangering them. Fitz refuses to send them to their deaths. If they choose that once he finds them then so be it, but he will not force that choice upon them. He has carried some parts of The Doctor with him but not that. Never that.

Even still it is harder than possibly conceivable to stand and do nothing. So he turns to Enoch and tries to whisper (but it comes out oh so angrily)  a question that he is terribly afraid of the answer :

“Why would I need you to introduce me to Jemma Simmons?”

And he really does mean _why_. Is she _his_ Jemma Simmons? Does she remember everything? Has her mind been wiped? He’s spiralling but when has he ever done anything else when something threatens Jemma? He tries to tell himself that he’s being ridiculous, that those things haven’t happened except it feels as though all rationality has been banished from him. He is seventy-four years in the future. Anything can happen.

His question also holds another meaning: why does _he_ need to be _introduced_ to _Jemma Simmons_? Leopold James Fitz knows Jemma Anne Simmons better than he knows himself. Leopold James Fitz has loved Jemma Anne Simmons more than she or anyone else will ever know or understand. He has almost drowned for her, crossed the bloody universe for her, and frozen himself for _seventy-four years_ to find her. He doesn’t need to be introduced to her. He needs to hold her, to feel her weight in his arms, to hear her heart beating against his ears. He needs to kiss her, to remind her that he loves her, that he needs her, and that he is _so bloody sorry_ for the way everything has turned out.

So with all of these things, he is only slightly relieved at Enoch’s answer:

“It’s marauder protocol.”

Fitz is not happy. Not at all. He gives Enoch a frosty glare to communicate this but says nothing further. Instead, he draws on the anger that is raging beneath his skin and boiling his blood. He will use this anger, and he will make them all regret what they have done to Jemma. He will use what The Doctor has given him, and he will make them all pay.

Every last one.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed, please feel free to leave kudos/comments, please feel free not to. Either way, I hope you have a lovely day!


End file.
